The Journal of Neuroscience, November 15, 2002, 22(22):9941-9944
Expansion of the Tonotopic Area in the Auditory Cortex of the
Blind
Thomas
Elbert1,
Annette
Sterr2,
Brigitte
Rockstroh1,
Christo
Pantev3,
Matthias M.
Müller2, and
Edward
Taub4, 5
1 Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz,
D-78457 Konstanz, Germany, 2 Department of Psychology,
University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZA, United Kingdom,
3 Rotman Research Institute for Neuroscience, Toronto,
Ontario, Canada M6A 2E1, 4 Department of Psychology,
University of Alabama at Birmingham, Alabama 35294, and
5 Birmingham Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Birmingham,
Alabama 35233
A part of the core area of the auditory cortex was examined in nine
blind and10 sighted individuals by magnetic source imaging and was
found to be enlarged by a factor of 1.8 in the blind compared with the
sighted humans. Moreover, the latency of the N1m component of the
auditory-evoked magnetic response was significantly decreased in the
blind. The development of use-dependent cortical reorganization may be
a consequence of the absence of visual input in combination with
enhanced auditory activity generated by the long-term concentration by
blind individuals on nonvisual cues to interact appropriately with the
environment. It is consistent with and well suited to mediate the
demonstrated increased ability of the blind to accurately localize
acoustic sources in peripheral auditory fields and to decode speech.
Key words:
tonotopic map; auditory cortex; reorganization; blind; MEG
Copyright © 2002 Society for Neuroscience 0270-6474/02/22229941-04$05.00/0
Previous Article | Next Article
